Its because the local TV packages pay a lot of money for exclusivity. MLB could end the blackout and get a few die hard fans to sign-up for MLB TV, but the local TV money would drop way more than the money they would be making. This has nothing to do with fans attending the game. Its all about local TV Markets. I live 100 miles away and am in the blackout area, so I buy cable with the channel that broadcasts the Reds locally which is exactly why those local TV packages pay so much for the broadcast rights. They can charge more for ad time, make more money and in turn pay more money to the Reds in the TV Package. Baseball knows that ending the blackout would seriously devalue its biggest cash cow, which is the local broadcast rights and any revenue made by selling more MLB TV packages woud pale in comparison while the local sport networks having the ratings drop. I don't think the blackout will ever go away unless something else makes that local TV money drop first.